As the title suggests, I'm looking to return to observatory to finish my coffee side quest.

This my first run-through of the game and before I picked it back up again it had been about 2 years - possibly 3 or more - since I had played it (I just couldn't win at the scripted card tournament and it made me drop the entire game). I finished the tournament, killed the optional boss-in-a-book, and continued with the storyline until I was given the Blue Narciss.

I haven't continued on to the Blue Mage city, or to Terra, so the side-quest guide claims I should be able to turn in the three coffees to the man at the observatory and claim my reward.

However, I can't work out how to get access to the area. I can't enter the north gate, there's no waterway for the ship, I don't have an airship and my chocobo doesn't have the mountain or air skills (I've been very unlucky with the chocographs).

How can I get back into that central area of the Mist Continent at this stage of the game? Thank you in anticipation of a response!

I'm finding it difficult to pinpoint what point of the game you are actually at. Assuming you have just obtained the Blue Narciss, if you continue further you will get an Airship in a relatively short amount of time anyway. But i'm not totally sure but could you sail to the Mist Continent and go through Ice Cavern to reach the top of the mountain and then you could reach observatory mountain, not sure though.

Great, thanks a lot for that. If I had the mountain/reef abilities for my chocobo I could definitely get to most of the places I want to go right now, but it seems like it would be worth playing ahead and getting the airship.

Like I mentioned, this is my first time playing the game and although I know I won't be able to go back and finish certain sidequests (the coffee and mini-model ones) after a certain point, I wasn't sure how far away those points are.

Just to clarify, the last thing I did story-wise was Burmecia/gaining the Blue Narciss. I haven't yet continued on to the Black Mage Village.

I don't know if I'm decently leveled. I was able to kill that optional boss in Alexandria (Tantarian) without much difficulty, and my current party is Zidane (L32), Vivi (L34), Amarant (L31) and Quina (L25, but s/he has Level Up so she's catching up to the others). I'm certain that's on the very low side of acceptable, because when I went down to the islands in the sea below the Chocobo forest the dragon-type enemy there cast one Thundaga and wiped out my entire party except for one character who was left with 5hp. That was at about level 31/32/29/24.

Your levels are fine. It sounds like you just came up against a Grand Dragon. Without the right equips, they are hard at most levels. With the right equips (coral rings..etc) they are good for exp farming.

Great, thanks a lot for that. If I had the mountain/reef abilities for my chocobo I could definitely get to most of the places I want to go right now, but it seems like it would be worth playing ahead and getting the airship.

Like I mentioned, this is my first time playing the game and although I know I won't be able to go back and finish certain sidequests (the coffee and mini-model ones) after a certain point, I wasn't sure how far away those points are.

Just to clarify, the last thing I did story-wise was Burmecia/gaining the Blue Narciss. I haven't yet continued on to the Black Mage Village.

I don't know if I'm decently leveled. I was able to kill that optional boss in Alexandria (Tantarian) without much difficulty, and my current party is Zidane (L32), Vivi (L34), Amarant (L31) and Quina (L25, but s/he has Level Up so she's catching up to the others). I'm certain that's on the very low side of acceptable, because when I went down to the islands in the sea below the Chocobo forest the dragon-type enemy there cast one Thundaga and wiped out my entire party except for one character who was left with 5hp. That was at about level 31/32/29/24.

Any tips as to what level I should be?

#Here are some levelling tips courtesy of the FF Wiki.

Final Fantasy IX has fewer places to grind than its counterparts, however, they still exist in some forms. The crystal versions of the Four Fiends in the Crystal World yield high amounts of AP. The Grand Dragon and the Yans on Vile Island both give huge amounts of EXP; Grand Dragons can be easily felled after a certain point, especially with the help of Dragon's Crest, but Yans remain exceptionally difficult even at optimum character levels. The party can fight Grand Dragons fairly early on in the game, as they can be fought above Gizamaluke's Grotto and die from Quina's Level 5 Death spell.

The player can also "grind" to max out certain character specific abilities: Zidane's Thievery powers up whenever he successfully steals from an enemy; Freya's Dragon's Crest can be maxed out by slaying 100 dragons and Quina's Frog Drop powers up the more frogs s/he has caught in the marshes. The earliest point in the game in which level grinding can be done is in Alexandria after Steiner and Marcus break out of their hanging cage. Having broken out, Steiner and Marcus will be assaulted by an endless stream of Alexandrian soldiers.

If the player moves Steiner to the middle of the room and equips him with the Blood Sword obtained from Queen Stella in Treno, an infinite number of battles can be fought without any healing necessary. When using a turbo controller, the player can keep the confirm button pressed down with a rubber band and Steiner can potentially gain 50 levels overnight.

Thanks for the tips. I generally really love the battle system in IX, but my single major complaint is that unless you're in Trance you can't see the names of the monsters (unless I'm missing something?), so I don't know if I'm fighting the right monsters.

I'm working on leveling up Quinna and Steiner (more for his -break abilities than anything else, in case they become handy later on) with Ability Up and Level Up, so I'd like to try the Grand Dragon farming, just to see if it's possible. Are you sure it's the coral ring is the right one? FF wiki says it absorbs water elemental attacks and the dragon attacked me with Thundaga. Maybe he has more than one elemental attack?

I think I'm going to go ahead and get the airship now anyway, there are just too many places I want to go that I don't seem to be able to access without a mountain/reef Chocobo right now.

Are there any good places to grind if I want to build my gil? Quinna has Millionaire, but I really need at least 100k more to buy out all the weapons coming up.

ETA: One last question; I'm in Alexandria right now, and when I talk to the little girl who's running around she won't give me the Alexandria card. I won the tournament and I don't already have the card in my inventory. Is there some per-requisite for the little girl giving you the Alexandria card?

Thanks for the tips. I generally really love the battle system in IX, but my single major complaint is that unless you're in Trance you can't see the names of the monsters (unless I'm missing something?), so I don't know if I'm fighting the right monsters.

Once you have targetted the enemy, before hitting attack if you hit the select button when the cursor is hovering on the enemy then it will show you what you are fighting.

As the title suggests, I'm looking to return to observatory to finish my coffee side quest.

This my first run-through of the game and before I picked it back up again it had been about 2 years - possibly 3 or more - since I had played it (I just couldn't win at the scripted card tournament and it made me drop the entire game). I finished the tournament, killed the optional boss-in-a-book, and continued with the storyline until I was given the Blue Narciss.

I haven't continued on to the Blue Mage city, or to Terra, so the side-quest guide claims I should be able to turn in the three coffees to the man at the observatory and claim my reward.

However, I can't work out how to get access to the area. I can't enter the north gate, there's no waterway for the ship, I don't have an airship and my chocobo doesn't have the mountain or air skills (I've been very unlucky with the chocographs).

How can I get back into that central area of the Mist Continent at this stage of the game? Thank you in anticipation of a response!

Do you have all the three coffee types? because if you have you could have just handed them in when you were in Dali when you got the last one during the card game tournament. Other than that your best bet would be the airship like everyone else said.

As for the coffee side quest I am pretty sure that the absolute last time that you are able to complete it is during the card tournament. You actually have to leave the town during the tournament to finish the quest. Otherwise if you complete the tournament you cannot complete the quest. I think there was a thread about this somewhere around the forum recently...

I didn't have the last coffee when I was at Dali. I was missing the one at the South Gate.

I'm pretty certain it's not too late - at least, not according to the missable items FAQ. I missed one of the missable items already (the moogle suit), so I'll never get all of them. I just want as many as possible.

The thing you miss if you don't do it during the card tournament is the Mayor's Key, which is needed for one of the coffees. I have that particular one. To quote the missable items FAQ:

Name : Mini Prima-VistaInfo : N/ALocation: Give Morrid at the Observatory Mountain all 3 Coffees and (Disc 3) he will send this to the Tantalus Hideout in Lindblum's Theatre District.Note : This cannot be got after going to Terra : This isn't an Item or Key Item and can never be picked up

Since I have all three of the coffees and it says Terra is the cut-off, I think I should be okay.

I've been to the Black Mage Village but I haven't yet gone to the Desert Palace; I found a great spot both for leveling up and for making Gil (Lanar Island). With the Millionaire, Ability Up and Level Up skills activated I make huge amounts of Gil from the Gimme Cats and Grand Dragons (my party can mostly withstand the party-wide Thundaga attacks thanks to lightning-resistant armour), and I just use Level 5 Death to kill the Grand Dragons, except for when I decide to try and steal a Rising Sun; I always manage to kill it before I can steal one.

I intend on getting everyone to at least level 40 and reaching 250,000 - 300,000 Gil (in order to buy everything in the upcoming dungeons, as well as from Stiltzkin) before I continue on with the story. What can I say? I love level-grinding when I can rather than must.